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Stepping up our open source activities

Karl-Johan Dahlström — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:30:31 +0000

As part of our continuing efforts towards openness and knowledge sharing, we are now stepping up our open source activities. For a long time, we have been one of the major contributors to the Android Open Source Project. We’ve also been active in the open developer community where we most notably published an ICS alpha release a couple of months ago. And now, we’re excited to release a couple of new open source projects that are available on our GitHub. As you can see below, we have just now released two very interesting projects as open source: the analysis tool ChkBugReport, and our WebGL implementation for Android™ 4.0.

This way, we would like to continue to be transparent, share our knowledge, and get external developer contributions to make the tools even better. On our GitHub, you can also find our Web SDK project we published a while back, and a project called DrmLicenseService, which we will tell more about soon. Stay tuned for more information about open source projects going forward!

WebGL implementation for Xperia™ phones released as open source

Tobias Nilsson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:29:09 +0000

In November, we announced that we were the first phone manufacturer in the world to support WebGL in the native Android web browser on Xperia™ phones. As a next step, we are now very excited to release our WebGL implementation for our coming Xperia™ phones running Android™ 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and above as open source. Read more after the jump, as Anders Edenbrandt, Senior Software Architect, explains more!

: Anders Edenbrandt, Senior Software Architect.

Since we announced that we had added support for WebGL in our Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) phones, we have received a lot of feedback from the community. Most of the feedback has been very encouraging, but we have also received comments saying that WebGL needs to get a wider deployment within the Android ecosystem, for the market to take off. This is something we completely agree with.

As a way of encouraging this, and in line with our continuous support of the open developer community and open standards like WebGL and HTML 5, as well as our ambition to be transparent, we have decided to publish our implementation of WebGL for Android 4.0 as open source. This way, it’s free for anyone who is interested in using it as is, but it’s of course also there as a base for anyone who would like to contribute in further development of the code.

The reason for publishing the implementation of WebGL for Android 4.0, and not the solution we used for our Android 2.3 phones, is that the WebKit code for Android 4.0 is much more recent, and therefore the required modifications are more manageable.

What is required to enable support for WebGL in Android 4.0?
We have published the code to enable support for WebGL in Android 4.0 on the Sony Ericsson Dev Github. You don’t need any particular access rights to download the source code, but you must be a fairly advanced developer. To make use of the code, you must be able to build your own Android™ operating system. The code consists of the following files:

Patched WebKit files to enable WebGL with the hardware accelerated compositing enabled.
New files that implements the binding between the WebKit and OpenGL on Android.

To enable WebGL, the changes must be applied to the WebKit component in the Android ICS-MR1 release. Right now the code only supports Android 4.0. Please note the work on the code is still in progress, and you can expect changes in the code base until we have launched our first commercial Android 4.0 software for our Xperia™ phones.

We hope to see a lot of interest in this, and many contributions as well. If you would like to contribute to the work with the code, or if you have any questions or comments, feel free to get go to our WebGL thread on the XDA Forum. If you have any direct comments or questions on this post, drop us a line below!

More information:

Read our announcement about WebGL support for the 2011 Xperia™ phones (including demos).
Check out our first announcement about WebGL as an internal research project.
Download copyleft archives for Sony Ericsson phones.
Read more about our support in the open developer community.
Learn about ChkBugReport, another open source initiative from Sony Ericsson.

Camera libraries available for Sony Ericsson phones

Karl-Johan Dahlström — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:48:52 +0000

As promised when we announced our support of independent developers, we have now made the camera library binaries for a number of Sony Ericsson phones available under a special end user license agreement (EULA). You can use these camera libraries to handle the camera hardware in our 2011 Xperia™ phones except Xperia™ PLAY, which has a different camera module.

Download and find out more after the jump.

As we stated a while back, we recognise custom ROMs as an important part of the Android™ ecosystem. When we decided to support the FreeXperia group working on the custom ROMs for Sony Ericsson phones, we quickly found out they had problems with our cameras. This is because the camera technology used by Sony Ericsson is a very advanced – we actually consider it to be the best in the market. However it is a closed implementation, so we can’t share the source code for it.

However, after some discussions with the FreeXperia team, we agreed to allow the FreeXperia team to use our libraries (which can be seen as drivers) for the cameras. But these libraries could not be used as they were, since they had dependencies to other modules in the phone that could not be included in the custom ROM project. To solve this, we rebuilt the libraries and provided them with a special EULA.

These newly rebuilt camera libraries are now modified with less dependencies to other libraries. We have recompiled the libraries without code changes but with different build flags. You can use these camera libraries under a special EULA-license. There are several important conditions you need to comply with, for example:

The Software can be copied and distributed under the condition that the original copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty will stay intact and the Licensee will not charge money or fees for the Software, whether as a stand-alone product, or as part of a compilation or anthology.

Several more conditions apply – please read the full EULA and make sure you are complying before using the camera libraries in any software. Download the camera libraries and find the full EULA text in the zip. Here you can also find a short instruction on how to start using these libraries. For more information on how use libraries like these, please see the FreeXperia project related thread on the XDA forum. We don’t have any possibilities in providing further support on this.

At last but not least, we want to say thanks to all of you in the community supporting this work, we really appreciate it. Even though we might not be able to support every single request we get, we are doing our best to support the community going forward.

Karl-Johan Dahlström
Head of Developer Relations
Sony Ericsson

More information

Download the camera libraries for the 2011 Xperia phones.
Find out how Sony Ericsson is supporting independent developers.
Learn how to build a Linux kernel.
Read why we made it possible to unlock the boot loader.
Visit our unlock boot loader web service.

Get rich or die tryin’ – get the game plan for developer success at AnDevCon, NOV 6-9

Joe Padre — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:29:04 +0000

Been wondering how you can get your mobile game into the spotlight? Are you ready to start making money off of your standout app? Karl-Johan Dahlström’s session at AnDevCon – Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – Building Success with Xperia™ PLAY – can help kick-start your Android™ development and your game into high gear. Read on to get more details about this speaker session, the AnDevCon event, and an exclusive discount.

Have you developed a killer game or app, but need help getting it off the ground? Don’t let your game or app languish in obscurity – get it in front of the crowd! Karl-Johan Dahlström, Head of Developer Relations at Sony Ericsson, can show you how at the upcoming AnDevCon in Silicon Valley, California.

About the session

Led by Karl-Johan Dahlström, the session Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – Building Success with Xperia™ PLAY is designed to show Android™ developers how to get promotion, top placement and increased revenues through Sony Ericsson’s marketing efforts.

– I hope a lot of people will get some valuable inspiration and thoughtful facts from this session, Karl-Johan says. I’m going to showcase how game developers can stand out with Xperia™ PLAY. Also, I’ll share some remarkable statistics that I hope will inspire developers to new levels of business success.

Sleepy Jack gameplay on the Xperia PLAY

Nate Smith, CEO of SilverTree Media, will join Karl-Johan on stage and share how his independent game development company has been able optimise, launch and maximise revenues with their latest title, Sleepy Jack, on Xperia™ PLAY.

The session takes place on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 from 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM. If you haven’t registered for the event yet, as a bonus for our readers, you can use the code sonyericsson to save $200 US off a 3 day conference pass.

About the event

What can developers expect to get out of AnDevCon? Alan Zeichick, conference chair of AnDevCon II, says, “Developers can look forward to learning in an incredible environment that’s 100% focused on Android. With more than 80 hands-on workshops and technical sessions taught by everyone from Google engineers to independent app developers to representatives of carriers and handset manufacturers, AnDevCon II covers every inch of ground.”

The Sony Ericsson team will be in full force at AnDevCon. Come to our booth (#902) on the exhibition floor to book some face time with one of our Business Development Manager, or if you have technical questions, speak to anyone in our Developer Support group. In addition to the speaker session, check out our booth to demo all the latest Xperia™ smartphones, and try out Sleepy Jack and all our latest games available for Xperia™ PLAY.

BZ Media’s AnDevCon™ II, November 6-9, 2011, in Burlingame, Calif., is the independent conference for software developers building applications for Android smartphones, tablets and other devices. Learn more at http://www.andevcon.com/, or follow on Twitter @AnDevCon.

More information

Read more about AnDevCon on our Developer World Event Calendar.
Get signed up on the AnDevCon Registration Page to attend this exclusive Android event.
Learn more about the benefits of the Stand out from the Crowd program.
Find out all about the Xperia™ PLAY Android mobile phone.

VDC 2011: re-PLAY with Developer World

Joe Padre — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:34:30 +0000

Sony Ericsson’s Developer World recently returned from an exciting two days at the Aria in Las Vegas for the Verizon Developer Conference.

Check out all the pictures and key takeaways from VDC 2011 after the jump!

As a major sponsor, Sony Ericsson had their own Developer Lounge on the main floor to show off the latest titles for the Xperia™ PLAY. On both days, we held a competition to see who could get the highest score in Asphalt 6: Adrenaline. Several attendees spent hours trying to achieve a top score, and in the end, we awarded three Xperia™ PLAYs to the highest scoring winners at the end of both days.

Anupam Nath from Sony Ericsson presenting at the session "Learn how to standout with Xperia PLAY" at VDC 2011.

From Sony Ericsson, Aaron Duke and Anupam Nath hosted a speaker session called “Stand out from the crowd with Xperia™ PLAY”. Attendees received an explanation of the benefits for developing for the Xperia PLAY, as well an overview of guidelines and recommendations for game developers. In the Q&A session that followed, Aaron and Anupam took lots of great developer questions from the crowd. Several developers asked about the games launcher, including whether or not Sony Ericsson takes a cut of the revenue (we do not!). In the end, we also handed out an Xperia™ PLAY to a lucky audience member – Kenneth Ng (pictured above in feature image). Thank you to everyone who visited our booth and attended our session. We look forward to seeing you at the next developer event.

Don’t forget to check our Picasa album with pictures from VDC!

Featured band "Cake" performs at VDC 2011.

Xperia Studio website is now live!

Joe Padre — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:41:45 +0000

Xperia Studio is live. The official website is up and running, and shows off the latest collaborations with artists, intellectuals, and digital fanatics who have experimented with Xperia™ phones to remake reality. Instead of the ordinary research of making calls clearer or screens brighter, Xperia Studio is working with outside-the-box thinkers, who have already gone beyond the boundaries of mobile technology. Check out this video on the Invisible Universe and others on the Xperia Studio website to see the amazing ways that scientists, artists, and musicians have come up with for re-defining how to use Xperia™ smartphones. You can also download project source codes and apps from projects directly from the site. Do you have any wild or crazy ideas for Xperia Studio on how else you can use a smartphone?

Ericsson kick-starts EAA 2012 with mini-challenge

Joe Padre — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:16:27 +0000

Developers, are you up for a challenge? We’re proud to team up with Ericsson to co-sponsor this year’s Ericsson Application Awards (EAA), and we’re very excited to announce the first mini-challenge for EAA 2012, which starts September 14. By taking part in the EAA competitions, developers have a unique opportunity to gain exposure within the telecommunications world, as well as a chance to reach out to customers through Ericsson’s marketing channels, PLUS the opportunity to win Sony Ericsson phones and €15,000 in prize money.

The winning team from last year, Team HipSnip, has already benefitted from the EAA spotlight, as they have been able to secure angel funding for their business. You can read about their inspirational journey in this article on the EAA guest blogger site. Now that the doors for success have opened up for Team HipSnip, are you ready for your turn? If you are up to the challenge, take part in the first mini-challenge, which begins September 14. Learn how to get started here.

More information

Watch this short message from Tommy Arngren, our fellow blogger from Ericsson.
Get yourself started in the Ericsson Application Awards 2012.
Read about EAA 2011 winners Team HipSnip.
Check out the latest EAA news and stories at Tommy’s EAA blog.

Search functionality improvements on Developer World

Joe Padre — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:35:55 +0000

As you might have noticed, the search functionality here on Developer World has been improved. Besides being faster, it returns much more relevant results. Gone are the days with broken search results and results limited to our Articles and Downloads sections. You can now find everything from all sections of Developer World, including News, Blogs, Tutorials and Downloads sections. You can easily find drivers for many Sony Ericsson phones. You can even search inside documents from our vast archive of user guides and white papers, available mainly in PDF format. Happy hunting!

Your feedback is greatly appreciated and if you find any issues on the Developer World site, or if you have any suggestions or recommendations on improvements, please let us know by using the Comments link at the end of this post.

Introducing Xperia Studio and Illutron

Joe Padre — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:45:42 +0000

Recently, our friends at Xperia Studio hooked up with Danish art-collective Illutron to run a few experiments around connecting their phones up with the Arduino interface.

You can take a look at what came out of the workshop in the short video. Particularly exciting is the ‘Propane Photo Booth’ – where Illutron managed to connect the camera flash of an Xperia™ smartphone up to a gas canon, with impressive results.

If you’d like to take a closer look at some of their experiments, and have a look at the source code used to create all this madness, then hop over to the Illutron website.

We’re looking forward to seeing the rest of the film, when it’s released in a month’s time.

You can find out more about Xperia Studio by following them on http://twitter.com/xperiastudio

Game developer tip 3: Installing large APK files to the SD card

Joe Padre — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:08:54 +0000

This is the third in a series of tips that supplement the Xperia^TM game developer recommendations. This tip expands on Packaging recommendation PK3 in the list of game developer recommendations: Any APK file larger than 5MB should be installed directly to the SD card.

Background

When designing your game for the Xperia™ PLAY or other Android™ devices, consider making a large APK file (5 MB or larger) install to the device’s SD card. Installing on the external storage is ideal when dealing with large application files such as gaming files, since they are not tightly integrated with the system. Installing the gaming files, or even just enabling the option to move gaming files, to the SD card increases the performance of the device. This also maximizes the number of games or apps that can installed in the phone memory of the device.

Special considerations

To make an application install directly to the SD card, use the attribute android:installLocation=”preferExternal” in order to make your application install to the SD Card by default.

For information on allowing applications to be installed on external storage, refer to the Android Developer topic on App Install Location.

Example

About the Game developer tips

The Xperia^TM game developer recommendations offers guidance in developing games for Xperia^TM devices such as Xperia^TM PLAY. The tips in this series provide additional information about some of the significant recommendations in that document. Each tip provides the following information:

Background. This is a fuller description of the recommendation. It answers the questions “why should I follow this recommendation?” and “when or where should I follow this recommendation?”.
Special considerations. This describes any special considerations, such as device-specific considerations or application type-specific considerations that pertain to the recommendation.
Examples. This shows screen captures or code snippets that further illustrate or explain the recommendation.

More information

Check out the full list of Xperia™ game developer recommendations.
Read our first game developer tip on automatically resuming downloads.
Read our second game developer tip on querying hardware capabilities.
Get additional guidance and tips in building high-quality games on the Xperia PLAY developer page.